BlogosphereBlogosphereFreedom Rider: Kamala Harris Destroyed Black LivesMargaret Kimberley: Harris is highly problematic for black voters, perhaps more so than any other candidate. She served as the district attorney of San Francisco and later as attorney general of California. In both roles she did everything in her power to support the mass incarceration system and all of its foundations. That is what prosecutors do after all, but most of them don’t try to run for president and ask for black people’s votes. ... As attorney general Harris opposed legislation that would have required her office to investigate police shootings.When California was ordered to reduce prison overcrowding she argued against it. ... She always sided with law enforcement, which means she acted against the interests of black people. ... Kamala Harris is no friend of black people and she should be treated as such. She should not be allowed to shake hands, kiss babies or walk into black churches without being taken to task...[ Visit Website ]Jan 16, 2019, 3:19pm

BlogosphereSolar and Wind Good news Stories TodayJuan Cole: Scotland is now getting 70% of its electricity from renewables (wind, solar, wave and hydro) and plans to be at 100% in 2020. In some months in 2018 Scotland’s renewables generated more 100% of the electricity the country uses. Scotland is innovating in tidal power, driven by the powerful currents in its seas, but onshore and offshore wind play an outsized role in this market. ... US electricity is still only about 20% from renewables. This low number is a result of unchecked corporate greed in the US and campaigns of climate change denialism. ... Spain gets 40% of its electricity from renewables, up from 33% last year. ... Norway is the star in green transportation. Its parliament passed a resolution urging the banning of gasoline vehicles by 2025, and already about one third of cars sold in Norway during the past year are electric...[ Visit Website ]Jan 12, 2019, 5:19pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: Phony Resistance Can’t Beat TrumpMargaret Kimberley:“The Democrats are boxed in by their own past misdeeds and now present nothing but acquiescence to right wing tropes.” ... The Democrats are terrified of mobilizing the people they claim to represent. There are many issues they could champion that would win them votes, everything from Medicare for All to debt forgiveness of college loans. But their donors won’t give them money if they fight for those causes so instead of policy we get justification for cursing. ... The government shut down is an opportunity to fight for the rights of thousands of people who are going without paychecks and for everyone who needs government services. But connecting with the voters is the last thing that Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer want to do. ... The Democrats don’t intend to offer anything new. Endless war and austerity are the only items always on their menu...[ Visit Website ]Jan 9, 2019, 3:32pm

BlogosphereAn Afterthought, No MoreJenni Monet: I was scrolling my Twitter feed, wiping my eyes dry over the immense promise I felt watching Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) share that heartfelt hug on the House floor, yesterday. ... There is nothing new about Indian Country getting short-shrift in the media, in politics or in life in general. And there is certainly nothing unusual of outsiders looking-in assuming that all Native Americans represent a monolith — that we all vote Democrat, that we think alike and that we’ll go along with whatever the corporate agenda is put in front of us ... But with Haaland and Davids representative of a resounding call for change, the time has come for the Indigenous inhabitants of these lands to become a priority in the American narrative. ... Rep. Haaland and I come from the same pueblo. Seeing her yesterday at the U.S. House dressed in our traditional mhanta and moccasins was one of the most powerful images I’ve seen... [ Visit Website ]Jan 5, 2019, 3:02pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: Elizabeth Warren and the Trap for Black VotersMargaret Kimberley: Whether Democrats are openly obstructionist corporatists like Pelosi, or liberal sounding like Warren, they will not consider any meaningful systemic reforms. ... Elizabeth Warren talks a good progressive game but her description of herself as “capitalist to my bones” is an indication that she will only go so far. ... Black voters will again be the losers if there is no discussion or debate about how to make political demands. If there is no serious reflection about 2016 that will be the case even if a Democrat wins. We already see the meager benefits of Democratic control of Congress. ... Capitalism is inherently unaccountable to the people ... Our plight will worsen if the people who failed so miserably are given undeserved trust yet again...[ Visit Website ]Jan 2, 2019, 3:54pm

BlogosphereGermany’s Electricity 38% Renewable in 2018, more than Coal for 1st TimeJuan Cole: In the United States the proportion of electricity generated by renewables is only about 20%, about half as much as Germany, because of the opposition to green energy of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Gas, and increasingly Big Trump ... Moreover, much of the increase in renewables in the US is very new, with falling solar and wind prices, whereas Germany has been at this for a long time and thus avoided substantial carbon emissions that it would otherwise have produced. ... “The 38 per cent was made up of onshore wind supplying 16 per cent, offshore wind with 3 per cent, biomass with 8 per cent, photovoltaics with 8 per cent, hydropower with 3 per cent, and waste and geothermal energy supplying 1 per cent.” ... And, Germany plans to almost double the proportion of renewables in its energy mix to 65% by 2030...[ Visit Website ]Dec 29, 2018, 3:25pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: UK and US PSYOP CollusionMargaret Kimberley: For more than two years the corporate media, elite think tanks, NATO leaders, and most Democratic Party politicians have insisted that Russia interferes in American and European elections. The charge doesn’t withstand scrutiny but the lies are repeated. There is proof that surveillance state meddling in the affairs of democratic nations is real, but Russia isn’t the culprit. It is the United Kingdom and the United States who lead in skullduggery and meddling with the rights they claim to uphold. ... Thanks to the Anonymous hacker community the work of the Integrity Initiative has been exposed to the public. The Integrity Initiative is a British “charity” founded in 2015. ... The Integrity Initiative is a means of undermining the sovereignty of the British people by manipulating them with lies. It engaged in numerous efforts to libel Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and prevent him from ever being elected prime minister....[ Visit Website ]Dec 21, 2018, 2:11pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: Yellow Vests Show the WayMargaret Kimberley: French law requires drivers to keep gilets jaunes, yellow vests, in their vehicles. The vests are a safety measure ensuring visibility for anyone who may find themselves in a roadside emergency. In an act of supreme irony thousands of French men and women use the yellow vest symbolism to tell president Emmanuel Macron that they will not be run over any longer ... Macron didn’t disappoint his patrons as he cut taxes for the wealthy and enacted gasoline “carbon taxes” allegedly used to fight climate change. Even the cherished national health care system is slowly being privatized and people accustomed to this generous government benefit are seeing the beginnings of an American style system. ... Just as in the U.S. the French banks were bailed out, but the people got nothing but cuts in services and benefits...[ Visit Website ]Dec 12, 2018, 4:16pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: Mueller, Manafort and AssangeMargaret Kimberley: The Mueller investigation much more resembles a propaganda campaign whose goal is neither truth nor justice, but vilification of Russia in the pursuit of endless war. ... “They cannot admit that the Russiagate narrative is and will remain unproven.” ... Trump, his family and his cohorts are guilty of being stupid and or crooked. Mueller can’t continue the ruse if he presents evidence of stupidity. Like all prosecutors he will get the goods any way he can. If that means putting Manafort and Cohen in jail as long as possible he will do it. ... Even worse, the scam has succeeded in distorting American politics and letting scoundrels off the hook. Millions of otherwise intelligent people are convinced that the big lies are true. ... the slanders will continue. They must go on if the crooks in high places are to get away with their crimes...[ Visit Website ]Dec 5, 2018, 3:01pm

BlogosphereThe Bottomless Dishonesty of CNN on Palestine and Marc Lamont Hill FiringJuan Cole: CNN has fired contributor Marc Lamont Hill for a speech he gave on Palestinian rights at the UN. ... CNN would have been under special pressure to fire Hill because he is a prominent African-American intellectual with a following in his own community, and the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs (the propaganda arm of the Likud government) is worried about the boycott and sanctions movement spreading among American minorities who might sympathize with the oppressed Palestinians. ... One of the reasons the Israeli army is just shooting down unarmed Palestinians in cold blood inside Gaza is that they want to create the image of a violent confrontation where there is none (the marches have not involved clashes with the Israeli army). ... In the first six months of the ongoing weekly rallies, Mezan reported that “150 Palestinians have been killed in the demonstrations. At least 10,000 others have been injured, including 1,849 children, 424 women, 115 paramedics and 115 journalists. Of those injured, 5,814 were hit by live ammunition...”...[ Visit Website ]Dec 1, 2018, 11:39am

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: The Democrats Win and Black People LoseMargaret Kimberley:“Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership have silenced and side lined what remains of any left wing tendency.” ... Nancy Pelosi won’t face a serious challenge because she does what Democratic Party funders want her to do. They determine the policy agenda. They don’t want Medicare for All. So there will be no Medicare for All. ... They want austerity and permanent war and that is all we will be offered .... The Democrats we ride and die for are fakes. They won’t say that all Mexicans are rapists and they won’t refer to African countries as “shit holes.” They put palatable black faces in high places. But they don’t end mass incarceration or cut the military budget...[ Visit Website ]Nov 28, 2018, 12:44pm

BlogosphereThe Amazon RobberyMargaret Kimberley: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. That means he is by definition the biggest thief in the world. He proved it by pulling off a reported $2.1 billion heist against the people of New York and Virginia who will subsidize two new Amazon regional offices. ... There is a sucker born every minute and they’re all in government. ... The crime is multifaceted, with corporate welfare accelerating, and the inevitable lies to the public along with it. There is a bigger lie about the efficacy of these dubious dealings and how public dollars should be spent. These swindles are proof of a damaged democracy in which the people never get what they want...[ Visit Website ]Nov 21, 2018, 2:52pm

Blogosphere Freedom Rider: The Legacy of 1918Margaret Kimberley: Donald Trump is a racist boor, but the European leaders he snubbed are unreconstructed imperialists whose nations have enslaved and slaughtered tens of millions. ... Despite the pomp, circumstance and wreath laying, there is no reason to celebrate World War I. ... But the victors eventually got the spoils. Britain and France ended up taking the Ottoman Empire territories in the Middle East and snatching Germany’s colonies in Africa too. They stole Germany’s money and set the stage for another conflagration just 20 years later. The United States got in on the action towards the end of the war and ended up securing its own empire. .... One hundred years later the same nations are still making decisions that impact everyone in the world and they still do so with the worst of intentions...[ Visit Website ]Nov 14, 2018, 1:37pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: Black People Need Birthright CitizenshipMargaret Kimberley: If birthright citizenship were to disappear, black people would be victims along with the immigrant babies who are disparaged so badly. Children born to undocumented parents would be the first target but black people would follow close behind. If birthright were no longer the determining factor in citizenship status it could be changed or even disappeared altogether. ... White Americans know that black people aren’t going anywhere. But the presence of an unprotected class of some 30 million people is a fantasy they have long desired. If birth didn’t determine citizenship, any criteria could be used to take it away. Criminal conviction might end citizenship rights. Poverty could be the determining factor or anything that white nationalists wanted to propose...[ Visit Website ]Nov 7, 2018, 2:44pm

BlogosphereFreedom Rider: American Terror Is Not NewMargaret Kimberley: “The most prevalent racially motivated murders are carried out by police across the country.” ... Trump differs from his predecessors mostly by tearing away the veneer of humanity and civility from a system which is relentlessly brutal. But the façade keeps many would be terrorists from carrying out their sick fantasies. There are people who keep their hatred to themselves until they know that they may be given some cover and acceptance. Hatred expressed by a president emboldens people who might not ordinarily act upon their racist impulses. ... “There were hate crimes before Donald Trump ran for president, most of them sanctioned by the state.” ... We always lived in a very dangerous nation...[ Visit Website ]Nov 1, 2018, 3:46pm